Custom-House Literary Response

Steve Epting
AP English
Custom-House Literary Response
In this review of the Custom-House, of the novel The Scarlet Letter, it gives deeper meaning of what Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to say. Hawthorne tells a story of a woman that comes to find who she really is, when involved in chaos. The town mocks her and scandalizes her name. She starts to realize that she doesn’t need to impress anyone in the town. So she doesn’t care what the people say and she starts to take pride in herself.
One critic reviewed the novel and praised the “exquisiteness of Hawthorne’s genius” and the “affluence of imagination and bold and striking thought.” I agree with this critic because Hawthorne is an efficient author. He has great skill as a writer, even though I didn’t understand every ample word that was written. This novel was written in the 1800s; words used were benumbed, Salemite, and sire and grandsire. This novel was written out of spite and rage, and that’s where we get the hatred from in the book.
There’s an abundance of symbols in this book. There are things such as the roses near the threshold of the prison, the “relationship” between Pearl and Hester, and the symbol of romance between two people. This book holds a cluster of meaning and value.